Saturday, October 22, 2022

   



As there have been very few boats out from here this week, I have very little information. There were a few halibut caught here this week, but not many. It ain't over in the bay, but it ain't good, either. McClure's isn't much better. Gage fished there for two days for a total of one ten pound halibut on a live jacksmelt. That was his only halibut bite. There have been a few others caught but not many. On Thursday, Gage caught his halibut, but after the building seas threatened to toss us and the boat ashore in 35 feet of water, we decided to go back in the bay. Soon after the bar started breaking all the way across. We fished by Sand Point, where he missed a halibut on Wednesday. After six drifts we were about to give up when Gage hooked a striper on his Bigfoot tube jig. We missed two more bites on that drift. After three more uneventful drifts, John Brezina pulled up alongside us to to tell us he was tired of no bites and he was headed in. He tossed his dead jacksmelt over the side of the boat. A moment later, a striper ate his dead jacksmelt twenty feet from the boat. Four drifts later, John was gone and we had no other bites except for crabs. As we weren't crabbing, we bailed, too, just after we watched a guy in an antique fourteen foot aluminum skiff go past and jump the bar. I can't believe he made it, and we left because we didn't want to risk our lives to save someone that got in trouble by doing something so blatantly stupid. Sorry, but if I see you doing something stupid, and risking my life to help you for your failed risk assessment is my option, I'm not going. Your choice was bad. Mine should be good. My father used to go out and save people (and often just try to save them) when bad things happened. After flipping a boat with Bill George on New Year's Day 1986, he slowed down a bit. There's nothing like staring at your own mortality to lend a bit of perspective to your life. I, too, want to help others, but it turns out that (in my case, at least) you need to carry a relatively small number of drowned people to learn a reasonable fear of the Tomales Bar. Anyhow, the weather forecast for the weekend is bad. After the wind, halibut fishing gets really questionable. Probably, figure it's over. Local bluefin may be over as well. But we'll see.

2 comments:

oldtimer said...

A very nice recap of fishing and catching prospects and a noteworthy forewarning to fishers and savers to knowledgeably respect the seas.

Unknown said...

Love your comment, “Your decision was bad, mine should be good.” Words to live by.